But it was Abbey, not a bear, who hit Kjersem with a piece of wood before stabbing him in the neck with a screwdriver and then giving the 35-year-old an ax, authorities said.

“This appears to be a heinous crime committed by an individual who had no respect for the life of Dustin Kjersem,” Gallatin County Sheriff Dan Springer said at a news conference Thursday.

Local law enforcement and a Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks officer, an expert in bear attacks, inspected the site at the Moose Creek Camping Area in Gallatin Canyon, but no found no signs of bear activity, leading authorities to treat the case as a homicide. An autopsy later confirmed that Kjersem had suffered multiple injuries, authorities said.

“This is the behavior of a guilty subject who thought they could get away with it,” Springer said.

Investigators believe the two men did not know each other and that the alleged homicide was a chance encounter. Abbey had planned to camp there, across the border with Yellowstone National Parkwhere Kjersem had already set up his tent, Springer said.

Kjersem had planned to spend the first night alone before picking up his girlfriend the next day for a second night together in the wilderness. His girlfriend was worried when he didn’t show up On the morning of Oct. 12, a Saturday, Springer said, so she went to the campsite and found Kjersem dead in the tent.

The sheriff’s office began an intense three-week investigation.

Kjersem’s sister, Jillian Price, on October 16 asked the public for help in finding her brother’s killer.

She said her brother was born in nearby Bozeman and worked throughout the valley pouring foundations, framing houses and installing countertops.

“He was a loving, helpful, sweet father who in no way deserved this,” she said.

But there were few good leads and little usable evidence, Capt. Nathan Kamerman, the sheriff’s office’s chief of investigations, said Thursday.

The big turning point came Oct. 25, when crime lab staff told investigators there was a DNA match on the beer can, Springer said. Abbey had previously been arrested for driving under the influence, according to state corrections records.

Authorities arrested Abbey the next day and questioned him on Oct. 29, when he confessed to the murder, authorities said.

Abbey is from about 90 miles away in Basin, Mont., but was in the area doing construction work, Springer said.

Abbey removed items from the campsite that he believed could tie him to the murder, Springer said. That’s why investigators asked the public on October 24 to keep an eye out for a blue Estwing camp axe, a 12-gauge Remington 11-87 shotgun, a .44-caliber Ruger Blackhawk revolver and an orange YETI cooler.

Cases like this consume the sheriff’s office, said Springer, who leads the 59-deputy agency.

He thanked his investigators, the other agencies who helped him and the lab technicians who solved the case. Springer also had a message for Kjersem’s family.

“I hope this can bring some peace to all of you,” he said.

Abbey is being held on $1.5 million bail on charges of deliberate homicide and two counts of tampering with evidence, according to Gallatin jail records.